Grant: Canada Research Chairs

A direct-contact impact, an explosive-induced overpressure, and a whiplash-type head motion all can elicit detrimental responses inside the brain, causing traumatic brain injury (TBI). In order to help individuals dealing with the effects of TBI, it is critical to understand how immediate brain biomechanics affect brain cells and networks that link to short- and long-term brain dysfunction. Collaborating with neuroscientists and fellow engineers, Haojie Mao, Canada Research Chair in Head Mechanics, will develop computational and experimental methods to characterize altered intracranial biomechanics due to trauma. He will investigate cellular, vascular, axonal, and network responses of the brain at a higher resolution, providing better opportunities for correlating brain biomechanics to injury. These correlations will improve our understanding of TBI, especially in mild TBI/concussion. Mao will also collect biomechanical data both in the laboratory and in the field. The laboratory data provide a controlled and accurate means to validate the prediction of the computational models, while the real-world data collection will benefit from validated models and algorithms to better understand the causes of these TBIs. Mao’s innovative research under the Canada Research Chair program aims to identify better head protection methods by instructing on how to reduce crucial injury mechanisms. His findings may also assist with diagnostics and therapeutics by predicting potential brain injury regions and understanding biomechanics-triggered neuropathology responses.